Nettie Scriven

A Crack in Time

Cinderella

Cassandra Room

Grandpa in my Pocket

Gulliver's Travels

Nettie Scriven is an award-winning scenographer and theatre maker, who enjoys animating a range of performances spaces ranging from the traditional (mainstream, studio theatres) to more unusual settings (art galleries, tiny children’s centres, heritage sites). She specialises in developing performance text through collaborative process, with a strong emphasis on working with young people through research and development, and in creating new writing.

Recent design work includes Inside Out of Mind (Lakeside Arts Centre/Meeting Ground Theatre 2013 and national tour 2015) Grandpa in My Pocket (Nottingham Playhouse and national tour 2012 -2013), Shiny (for dance company Turned on its Head, children’s centres and national tour 2013-2014), Dream Play (Big Window and children’s centres 2011-2012) and Gulliver’s Travels (2011-12), a Curve Leicester/Dragon Breath collaboration and regional tour.

Selected previous work includes Journey to the River Sea (Unicorn Theatre); Broken Hearted (Derby Theatre); His Dark Materials (Curve); Loving April (Oxfordshire Touring Co); The Waltz (West Yorkshire Playhouse and Henry Moore Sculpture Gallery); The Secret Garden (Nottingham Playhouse); Aesops Fables (Sherman Theatre / Birmingham Rep) which was selected for 2D>3D National Exhibition of Theatre Design at the Theatre Museum, London 2004-5; Plague of Innocence (Sheffield Crucible) Winner: British Theatre Association ‘Best young People’s Theatre Production Award 1988. Nettie represented the UK at the Prague Quadrennial in 1999 with Best of Friends (Komedia Theatre).

Nettie is Joint Artistic Director of Dragon Breath Theatre, a company specialising in making work with and for young people. Current project is A Crack in Time (2013-15) an immersive site specific piece at Papplewick Pumping Station heritage site. Designs include Gulliver’s Travels (2011-12), and Dragon Breath (2003-4). Dragon Breath was exhibited at the SBTD Collaborators: UK Design for Performance 2003-2007 Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2007- 2008. The company’s performance work includes art/science collaborations which have been shortlisted for many prizes and disseminated internationally. Cosmos (2008-9), a dance performance project was shortlisted for the Brian Way Award for Best Play and for the Nottingham Creative Business Awards; The Icarus Project (2006-7), a multi media performance shortlisted for The Times Higher Education/ACE Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts, The Brian Way Award for Best Play, and nominated for the Kohn Award for Science Communication.

Nettie was Senior Lecturer in Theatre Design at Nottingham Trent University until 2009. She has a specific interest in research and practice and sharing of knowledge at national and international conferences and through academic journals. She worked extensively as a Creative Agent in Schools for Creative Partnerships, and is currently working in this capacity for the University of Nottingham and Papplewick Pumping Station Trust.